U-Mass. basketball star Derrick Gordon is among the latest to come out.

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U-Mass. basketball star Derrick Gordon is among the latest to come out.

Ian ThorpeIan Thorpe, a five-time Olympic champion from Australia, announced he was gay on July 13, 2014, something he had denied in his 2012 autobiography. “This is only something that very recently — we’re talking in the past two weeks — I’ve been comfortable telling the closest people around me,” he said. The swimmer had sought to avoid the issue when he was younger, but decided: “I don’t want young people to feel the same way that I did. You can grow up, you can be comfortable and you can be gay.”Stephane Mahe/Reuters

After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.

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